Tuesday, March 8, 2011

"Blessed is the season which engages the ...world in a conspiracy of love." Hamilton W. Mabie

This is a novel that captured my interest and entertained me with the history of London in 1719. The setting was so well developed that I felt that I could see the ravages of disease in the prisoners at Newgate prison and hear the crowd as they taunted a prisoner for being a Jacobite.

There are also lessons for today when we watch the news and see the political unrest in Egypt and Lybia.

Benjamin Weaver is a Jewish detective who is contacted by a snobbish gentleman named Balfour. This is a time when England is in fear of the French and their support of the deposed King James.

Balfour states that he questions his fathers suicide and that the person responsible for his father's death is also the person who murdered Weaver's father. This is an eye opener for Weaver who was not close to his father and had thought that his father's death was accidental.

Underneath the possible murders is the fact that Weaver's father was a stock trader and there may have been stock forgery that caused the crimes.

Weaver is hired by Sir Owen to retrieve some matters he lost when a whore got him drunk and sole his valuables. As Weaver finds the whore, we see the streets of London and the dangers of a city with little in the way of police.

Weaver proceeds with his task as the reader observes other facts. Weaver is a Jew and society feels that Jews are out to steal their money. At one time a character states, "...any man who has lost money in funds (stocks) can follow...the loss to the hand of a Jew."

I was totally entertained by this novel, the picturesque images of England, the well developed characters and the sophisticated writing style of David Liss. The book is in development for film and I look forward to seeing the author's magic on the screen.

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Words to think about

Favorite quote;

"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh."

W. H. Auden

2014 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2014 Edgar Awards:
Best Novel:
"Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger
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Best 1st Novel by An American Author:
"Red Sparrow" by Jason Matthew
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Best Paperback Original:
"The Wicked Girls" by Alex Marwood